Spatchcocked Chicken

Sptatchcocking (removing the back bone and flattening it) seemed to be the in way to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey this year. Reading about the process and seeing the pictures brought to mind a place I used to go for lunch often when I worked in Rockville some 25 years ago.

It was in a strip along Rockville Pike toward the north end, and I'm sure had "pollo" in the name as it was a not fried chicken place before the rotisserie chicken places moved in. They had flattened chickens on the grill, and the standard lunch was a couple of tortillas, a hunk of chicken, and the instructions (on the paper placemat) to shred the chicken and wrap it in the tortillas to make tacos.

Gail Simmons gives us her list of pantry must-haves. Ingredients you should always have around to enhance and boost the flavor of all your meals. It's the little things that keep life interesting. Read more here.

Chefs Joanne Chang and Karen Akunowicz from Myers + Chang in Boston, show us how to use lemongrass. It's the central ingredient in their Green Monster, infusing the stir-fry with unique bright, citrusy, and floral-herbal fragrance. Read more.

When you're cooking turkey, but also doing Friendsgiving - it's worth learning a butchering technique that will save you hours of work in the kitchen. Jocelyn Guest (whole animal butcher) teaches us how to perfectly spatchcock (or butterfly) the bird.
Special thanks to The International Culinary Center

Chief bartender at Hotel Unique in Sao Paulo, Mateus Saint Laurent, shows us how to make the Brazilian national drink, Caipirinha. A delicious and refreshing cocktail that you should make a part of your bar repertoire.